


The Lakehouse

by snarkstark



Category: DCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, College Setting, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mainly Bruce/Tony, Meet-Cute, Slow Burn, Someone get these kids a vacation, Tony and Bruce are both angsty, lakehouse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-23 23:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13798494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkstark/pseuds/snarkstark
Summary: “Tony, I’ve been meaning to ask you something!” Steve called out, his tone overtly confident.“No.” Tony dismissed him immediately.Steve and Clark drag their respective friends to a Lakehouse for six days, determined to introduce them. Despite their unwillingness, Tony and Bruce just may find solace in each other. Of course, the vacation still sucks. Mostly. A little.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> im bruce/tony trash and its consuming me. that is all.

Steve cornered Tony in the tiny kitchen, no doubt tactically sealed away from the rest of their group so that he couldn’t hide behind his showmanship. “Tony, I’ve been meaning to ask you something!” The art student seemed both overly confident and cheery, which meant this was more of a cajoling than anything he’d be remotely interested in. 

“No.” Tony dismissed him immediately, taking two beers out of the fridge and closing the door. 

“What?” Steve folded his arms, “I didn’t even finish my question.”

With a sigh that indicated deep emotional pain, Tony rolled his eyes and turned to face one of his best friends. “Yeah, and I already know the answer’s going to be no, Steve.”

“Yeah? I could have been asking you to…” He flailed for an example for a few moments, the tell-tale red flush turning the tips of his ears red, “Come to a great party next week.” Steve finished lamely. 

“Nope.” Pulling that signature Tony Stark ‘Wow, it must be hard to be an idiot’ face, the young genius continued, “Point of evidence one, you’re asking me on your birthday so that there’s a higher chance I won’t deny you. Point two, you’ve separated us from everyone else so there’s no chance of distractions, and point three, you asked in that fake ass voice.” He concluded smugly, popping the caps off the beers and handed one to Steve.

“You know, if you ever decide to ditch mechanics and head into law, they’re finished.” Steve accepted the beer, inclining his head in thanks.  
Having to slide past the bigger man to get to the door of the tiny kitchen, Tony paused briefly when they were face to face, “Point four, flattery. I’m disappointed, Steve, I thought we all agreed not to boost my ego.” Tony pulled a mock disappointed face, hand on the doorknob. 

To his chagrin, Steve’s hand curled around his wrist and tugged him back, forcing him away from the door. “C’mon man, this is important to me.” The blond muttered, laying the cards on the table. Tony only hesitated momentarily, torn between falling for those damn baby blues and heading back into the living room to escape. 

“Fuck’s sake, fine. What is it?” He conceded, raising his hands in mock surrender as he regarded the other with a mildly irritated gaze. 

“It’s about Clark. Well, mostly.” Steve began to explain, leaning against the countertop. 

Tony was unable (as ever) to resist cutting in, “Did he fuck up? We can kick him out or kick him period. Your choice.” Ever eager to start a fight, the brunet was up in an instant, despite Steve’s frankly quite done expression. 

Steve had begun dating Clark a few months ago, and it had been an almost sickening romance. They had bonded over boring things like sports, music, and that kind of thing. Moreover, they shared a similar sort of dry humour, matched by their exceedingly stern moral compasses. As always, Steve’s group of friends had been judgemental about the relationship, most of them were naturally distrusting and critical, especially towards someone that seemed to be as perfect as Clark. The first time they had been introduced was rough, as it resembled more of an interrogation than a casual hang out, but one too many glares from Steve eventually got them to lay off the poor guy. As time went on, they slowly began to accept that Clark was one of those naturally perfect freaks, just like Steve, and gave him the stamp of approval. 

Tony himself found himself surprised at how well he got along with the aspiring journalist, since, at the beginning, Steve and he had butt heads ferociously, so he expected it to go about the same with Clark Kent. Perhaps it was the looming knowledge about how pathetically in love Steve was with the guy that had set him on his best behaviour, but he had attempted to use a brain-to-mouth filter when speaking to the group’s new addition, and it paid off. By the time Tony dropped the filter, Clark was at least adjusted to how abrasive he was, naturally. 

“No, and shut up. I’ll start by thanking you, and it goes for the rest of the guys, too. You impressed me when I started dating Clark, and he really feels like you accept him! And on his end, his friends were mostly well-behaved to me, too. The problem is, we’ve been dating for months, and it’s kind of a drag to always be choosing between Clark’s friends and mine when we plan something. You’re worse than damn in-laws.”

“So, what? You’re the idiot that went and fell in love with someone.”

“Compassion, Tony.” Steve chastised, sending a small glare his way for interrupting. 

“Sorry, I mean, I really feel for you, Steve. Why haven’t we merged into some big happy family yet?” Tony finished with a fake gasp of surprise, looking around the kitchen as if wondering why Clark’s friends weren’t there with him. 

“Haha, funny,” Steve drawled, “But you’re not far off. We want to introduce you, at least. So, we were thinking about bringing everybody down to the Lakehouse that Clark’s parents own, and having a vacation there!”

“Steve, I’m going to kill myself if that happens, you know that right?” Tony regarded him with absolute shock, as if Steve had proposed they had a mass orgy or something. 

“Tony!”

“What?”

“They’re nice!” Steve reached for his phone, ignoring Tony’s loud and obnoxious groan as he clicked on the camera roll app, hastily scrolling through the pictures. He pulled one up of Clark with an insanely attractive girl sitting on his shoulders, making a peace sign. “See, this is Diana.”

“Suddenly, I feel myself changing my mind,” Tony smirked. Steve immediately brushed him off, disallowing his inappropriate thoughts to go a second further. 

“Don’t bother,” Steve shook his head, “She’s loyal to her ex-boyfriend, the other Steve. She doesn’t really talk about it, but I think something bad happened to him.”

“Oh,” Tony had the good grace to look a little ashamed of himself, although he shrugged his shoulders after a moment, “This is exactly why I should be banned from coming – I can’t be trusted!” He protested “Besides, I have more friends than I could ever need or want, thanks to you.” 

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you forced my hand.” Steve looked pain as he searched for a different image, eventually holding up a picture. It seemed to be a guy with dark hair, clearly unhappy with having his image taken if the burning glare directed at the camera had anything to do with it. More importantly, he was insanely attractive. 

“Clark’s best friend, Bruce Wayne. Oh, and he’s single.”

There was a moment of silence in the kitchen, before Tony calmly set down his beer. “Quite frankly, Steve, I’m ashamed and disappointed, not to mention confused, about why we haven’t met these people before! Gosh, this silly divide between us is completely ridiculous, you should have asked them to move in months ago!”

“Okay, Tony.” Steve rolled his eyes, “We’re heading up to the Lakehouse as soon as this semester's through. Six days, a real staycation.”

Tony continued to act like he hadn’t heard, walking away from him, still ranting about how unfair it was of Steve not to have mixed them. God help Bruce Wayne.  
Returning to his own party, he sat himself on the couch next to Clark, eyeing Tony who had promptly thrown himself over Rhodey’s lap and was now pretending to watch the film on the screen while secretly coding on his phone. “Did he agree?” Clark asked, tone filled with hope. Steve looked around the room, from where Bucky and Natasha sat, somewhat inappropriately entangled, to where Sam was aiming popcorn into his mouth and catching it. “Yeah, but I had to pull that Bruce trick we discussed.” 

If anything, Clark seemed relieved at the statement, pulling out his phone so that he could brandish his texts to Bruce. The guy put up a good fight, same as Tony did, and Steve noted that Clark had notably chosen to send Steve’s personal favourite picture of his friend. He was cross-legged on the workshop floor, it ripped jeans and an oil-stained tank, looking ecstatic as he gestured to Dum-E, the small ‘bot by his side.  
After that, Bruce’s only response had been, ‘Fine.’

“Is he agreeing or describing Tony?” Steve snorted, handing his boyfriend’s phone back, knowing for certain that bringing these two people together was either going to be the end of the world or the start of a new one. 

“Guess we’ll find out.” Clark shrugged his shoulders, leaning closer to Steve to press a quick kiss to his cheek, “Happy Birthday, Steve.”  
“Thanks for coming, Clark.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

 

 

 

It was late by the time Tony left Steve and the other’s apartment. The rickety place belonged to Steve, Sam, Bucky and Natasha, while he and Rhodey shared a dorm room on campus, and Thor shared with his brother a small distance away. “So, Clark’s Lakehouse is gonna be cool, right?” Rhodey elbowed him as they walked. 

“Not really,” Tony answered honestly, “You have to think that being cooped up with total strangers for a week is going to be ‘awkward’ at best.” The genius complained, pessimistic as per usual.

“Why’d you agree to come then? Rumour has it that you don’t mind getting awkward with Bruce Wayne, huh?” It clicked, that this was really what the conversation was about, so Tony made sure to send him a glare that conveyed how much he disapproved of the topic. 

“I couldn’t care less. I would’ve agreed anyway, for Steve. Being dramatic is just my branding at this point.” Tony pointed out, a smile tugging at his lips. Curse Rhodey and his inevitable bromance.

“So, you don’t think he’s attractive?”

“C’mon, man, you know I’m not blind enough to think that. The guy’s smoking. I’m going just to play nice with Steve’s friends, but if he’s a bonus, I’m not complaining.” Tony settled the matter, unlocking their door and pushing his way inside. “Now fuck off, I have work to do.” He cursed his friend fondly, shoving him away and moving to sit at his desk. 

Despite having no interest in weaponry (he was certain Howard was turning in his grave), Tony was avidly working on his biggest project. He called it JARVIS, and right now it was little more than a concept. Dum-E barely counted as functional as it was, but he was artificial intelligence nonetheless. Although he did have ideas for his Father’s company and had a surprisingly clear direction that he wanted to take it in, this was where his young heart was. Revolutionising Artificial Intelligence seemed to call him. His other passion, intended for more of a company focus, was clean energy. After all, the Earth was mostly shit, but it was the only planet that they had so far. It was the least he could do to take care of it as best that he could, not to mention what clean energy would do for science. 

Opening his laptop, he set to work, his keyboard clicks drowning out the ticking of the clock. At some point, Rhodey gave up and went to sleep, leaving him working in the dark, only the glow from his electronics creating a glow. The dead of night, where nothing existed but him and his work was his favourite time. When he finally dragged himself out of his stupor, he checked the time. Five thirty-three in the morning. He looked towards his best, looking temptingly unused. Then, he glanced back at his computer and found himself doing something strange. He opened up FaceBook and searched Bruce Wayne. Nothing, nada. 

“The fuck?” Tony, now curious, searched for him on every social media platform he had, turning up nothing, still. What kind of weirdo didn’t have social media in this day and age? Then again, he couldn’t be sure he had even spelt the guy’s name right. It was a little creepy of him to have searched anyway. Blaming his lack of sleep for his lapse of judgement, he changed and collapsed into bed, burrowing deep under the covers. 

Whoever the elusive Bruce Wayne was, he would find out soon enough, anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony is 100% not cool about being in a literal horror film

“I changed my fucking mind,” Tony grumbled, shoving his face more determinedly, kicking out pathetically in the hopes of landing a lucky hit. 

Rhodey didn’t hesitate for a second, wrapping a hand around the offending ankle and pulling as hard as he could. The genius promptly shot out of bed with a surprising force, yelping as he tumbled onto the floor. “Fuck!” He cursed, still clutching the pillow and looking traumatised. As if Rhodey had stabbed his Mother, he looked up with wide, betrayed eyes, “Just tell me why.” He whispered, looking longingly at his now vacated bed. 

“Stop being a dramatic little shit.” Rhodey had known him far too long to waste time on things like compassion, apparently. “Get up and dressed, and maybe I’ll give you a coffee.” His so-called friend ordered, causing Tony to glare indignantly. 

“No hot guy is worth getting up at this Godforsaken hour.” Tony snarled, regretting all of his life choices as he slowly got to his feet and headed towards the bathroom. Only freaks like Rhodey would be up and ready at four o’clock in the morning. It was a long trip to the lakehouse, and his friend must have known Tony would put up a fight. A hot shower served to wake him up by about three percent, but things picked up a little after Rhodey gave him his promised coffee. “I still hate you,” Tony reminded him cheerfully, downing it in a way that couldn’t possibly be healthy. 

After that, it was a simple matter of hauling their respective shit down to the carpark and cramming it into the trunk of Tony’s car. “This thing has about one centimetre cubed of boot space.” Rhodey complained, desperately trying to cram their things inside and get the lid shut.  
“Oh, I wonder why they didn’t consider trunk space on this sports model.” Tony drawled, watching his friend’s efforts with a look of amusement. Eventually, they heard the tell-tale click and moved around to the front of the car. 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Tony decided he hadn’t complained in the last three minutes and that needed to be rectified, “What if they’re all assholes?” He folded his arms like an insolent child. Rhodey merely glanced at him from the driver’s seat, adjusting the mirror with a grin. 

“Then you’ll get along just fine.”

With that, they began the long drive, and the debate over which music to put on. Tony won, but he suspected that it was less because his arguments were better and more because Rhodey couldn’t take his whining for much longer before he opened the door and kicked Tony right out of the car. His heavy rock blasted out of the radio at an obscene volume as they left campus, filling the silence. The young genius’ head rested against the window, as he watched the indistinguishable grey mass of building and sidewalk flash by, as blurred and hurried as his thoughts. 

His complaints, though irritating, were not unfounded. The fact was, he was abrasive, loud and far too dramatic for almost anyone’s taste. While he claimed most people were boring, it didn’t mean that he had a disregard for them completely. Not when they meant something to Steve, after all. He just knew, that he would get that stupid look of disappointment that made him feel all sick and guilty, ashamed of his behaviour. Whether it was due to how much he admired Steve, or simply how practiced that look was, it made him regretful all the same. Acting like a boring asshat was going to be torture, but regardless of what happened in that poky little cabin, embarrassing Steve was not on the menu. 

Sighing to himself, he watched the window steam up where his breath condensed, his eyebrows drawing together with frustration. Rhodey somehow must have heard him over the outrageous music and looked over at him. “We didn’t catch breakfast, you wanna—”  
“No Denny’s.” Tony cut him off immediately.

“Oh c’mon man, they’re not that bad.” Rhodey protested, rolling his eyes.

“I’ll die before I set foot in that restaurant. If you can call it that.” 

 

 

 

An hour later, Tony Stark sat in Denny’s, looking at his pancakes with distaste. “You suck.”

“Oh, how awful, how dare I feed you?” Rhodey rolled his eyes over his mouthful of waffles, deaf to his insults, as he scrolled through messages on his phone, “Steve and Clark are already there, checking everything is all good up there. Steve says he wishes you were there, they can’t get the generator to work so no power or hot water.”

“Oh Christ, who let those two try and work anything that didn’t have an on/off switch?” Tony grinned into his mug of coffee, but it was slightly fond. Obediently starting his pancakes, he shrugged his shoulders, “I guess we should hurry up and get there already. It would suck if they electrocuted themselves and I got up early for nothing.”

“A modern-day hero.” 

After finishing their food, they hit the road again, this time with Tony at the wheel and Rhodey with control of the radio. The city streets and towering skyscrapers faded away like so many memories, rural scenes sneaking in ahead of them, the occasional field and forest. “I hate the outdoors.” Tony gave the view a cursory glance, wrinkling his nose.

“Don’t be a wuss. Those of us who aren’t _rude_ asked Steve about the cabin and apparently, he has all kinds of cool shit up there. There’s a lake with canoes, a huge forest with a bunch of animals, treehouses and even a zipline. There’s a cool hill nearby Clark used to climb as a kid, a campfire and a barbeque. You’re too pessimistic, this place is cushy. It’s probably nicer than our dorm room!” Rhodey protested.

“Jeez, are you the sales rep for this place? I’ll buy it if you be quiet.” Tony teased him, “Besides, we only have that gross room because you won’t let me buy us an apartment.” He retaliated, taking his eyes off the road for a quick glare. 

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll get an apartment when I can pay my half, we’ve been over this.”

“Dork.”

“Asshole.”

Tony grinned at him widely, that rare happy glimmer in his eye. Rhodey was one of the few people in his life that truly wanted nothing from him. Not his money, not his fame, not his opportunities. Even after years, it seemed his friend was ever content with a Die Hard marathon on Thursday nights, and cramming for exams together. He didn’t expect anything in return for pulling Tony out of trouble or having his back no matter what. It had been something completely new to him when they had first met, leaving him in perpetual shock at every new act of kindness. Now there was easy trust and love between them, a constant undercurrent that kept him safe. Tony wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The roads slowly grew rougher, and road signs became a rarer occurrence, as did the rest of civilization. “This is how fucking horror movies start, Rhodey.” Tony glared at the rest of the world, as of some buildings would materialise out of sheer will, “Seriously! Kids all go off to some spooky, shitty little cabin away from help, and boom, murder city. If we get chased, I will not hesitate to throw you at the nearest serial killer. This is your fault.”  
His friend scoffed at him, “Turn right. We’re here.” 

The gravel crunched under his tyres as he drew closer to the lakehouse, and Tony had to admit that it was huge. “Jesus, look at this place. We could have invited the rest of the college population.”

“Yeah, Clark’s family inherited it from some rich-ass relative that took a shining to Clark before he offed it.”

“You made it way less cool, so thanks.” Tony pulled up, reluctantly getting out of the car. To his relief, the only two people to come out and greet them were Steve and Clark, suggesting they were the first to arrive (no doubt due to Rhodey’s dictatorship regime). 

Hugs and greetings were exchanged before they made their way inside, ditching their bags in the huge entry hall. A huge oak staircase led up to the next two floors, and even Tony lifted his eyebrows. “This place is pretty huge,” He looked around, spotting the signs of expense and comfort even in the slightly ominous lighting. 

“Yep, which means you can find somewhere to hide, in true hermit fashion.” Steve grinned at him.

“Fuck off, Steve. I’m a social butterfly.” Tony retorted.

“Any chance you’re also a handy butterfly?” Clark asked hopefully, “I think the generator’s broken or something, we can’t get it to work.”

Tony wasn’t bothered by the task, it would be nice to get his hands on something after being stuck in the car the whole trip up. Besides, it gave him a nice excuse to avoid all the awkward interruptions while everyone else arrived. “Sure, I’ll go down and check it out. Tools?”

“Already down there. It’s in the basement, so just keep heading down. Steve and I will move your stuff to your room.” Clark replied, clearly feeling a little guilty about asking Tony to help when he was supposed to be a guest. Clark and Steve were both dumb like that, and wildly overestimated how Tony felt about manners. 

“Thanks. See you guys in a bit.” He saluted them with a grin and started heading down the stairs, peering into the darkness suspiciously. If there was some haunted, ghostly shit going on around here, he was already gone. Luckily, he reached the basement unscathed, spotting the generator in the corner.

He began a check, looking for the issue. It turned out to be a few things, just due to the neglect and irregular use. He thanked God it was nothing he couldn’t fix, sorting out the tools he would need and searching around through storage and junks to find a few other materials he needed. Plugging in his headphones, he listened to his music absently as he worked, fixing away for almost an hour before he came to the last few adjustments. Ready to close up a panel and do a final check, he spun around to get the right wrench to put the screws back into place. 

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Tony screamed, immediately raising his fist to knock somebody the fuck out. He processed just in time, that the person was perfectly docile, and was in fact holding the wrench he needed, calmly offering it out to him. He ripped out his headphones. Upon closer inspection, he realised it was Bruce Wayne, the guy in the photos. “Seriously, man, you can’t just fucking do that someone! I almost had a fucking heart attack, Christ.” Tony took a moment to examine the boy in front of him, who looked blank. Yet, when he paid more attention, he caught the slight curl of his lip and the amusement in his eyes. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to, ah, scare you. I thought I made my presence known but I didn’t see the headphones.” He had a lovely voice, even if he spoke formally, in an accent that made his high class obvious. 

Tony took the wrench, looking at him suspiciously. “Thanks. How’d you…”

“It’s a common bolt, the wrench choice is obvious. Then again, Clark can’t tell his head from his ass most days, so I can’t be surprised at your low expectations.” Bruce shrugged his shoulders, watching as Tony screwed the panel into place and switched the generator on. “I didn’t come down here to murder you, either. I came to help but looks like you had in under control.”

“Not exactly rocket science.”

 

“No, that would be far too fun.”  
Tony caught something in Bruce’s tone that hadn’t been present until that point, something that sparked curiosity in him and lit a spark behind his eyes. 

“I’m Tony Stark.” He finally offered a hand, and Bruce took it with a firm shake.

“Bruce Wayne.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr Serial Killer.” Tony replied, crouching to pack up the tools with a grin on his face. To his surprise, Bruce bent down too, placing things back in the box carefully and with an order that made his mechanical heart sing. Bruce met his eye and huffed.

“Something tells me that’s not going away for a long time.”

Maybe this trip wouldn’t suck quite so badly after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaa hope you liked it!  
> please comment below, i love feedback!!!  
> L :)

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaa i hope you liked chapter one!  
> i want to continue this so please leave opinions down below, i love comments!!  
> thanks for reading,  
> L :)


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